by lwang | Jun 27, 2011 | BRAC, BRAC UK, BRAC USA, Escuela Nueva, Fazle Abed, Kravis Prize, Vicky Colbert
Congratulations to Vicky Colbert from Escuela Nueva Foundation! We are so happy that Vicky is being honored with this tremendous award. It is a well-deserved and hard-earned recognition. This year’s award announcement brought back memories of my own experience in 2007. When I was awarded the second annual Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership, the news brought a whirlwind of excitement, gratitude, inspiration and exhilaration for all of us at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). The Prize’s financial award had an immediate impact as it helped BRAC establish offices in the United States and United Kingdom. These offices have helped to support and grow BRAC’s programs beyond Bangladesh. Since 2002, BRAC has expanded to nine other countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Southern Sudan, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Uganda and recently Haiti. The Prize helped not only to begin our work in the U.S. through BRAC USA, but also to give our new institution credibility in the U.S. Though BRAC began in 1972 and is today one of the biggest development organizations in the world, not many people living in the U.S. had ever heard of it and even fewer were aware of its remarkable history and successful track record. The recognition we received from the Kravis Prize allowed us to establish BRAC USA and begin telling our story to a new audience in America and the U.K. Throughout 2010, BRAC USA has been working to tell the story of our organization’s successful approach to development. Members of the BRAC USA team have attended and participated in several conferences and panels in the last year. We also have...
by lwang | May 6, 2011 | AIL, Education, Kravis Prize, Sakena Yacoobi, Vicky Colbert
I would like to congratulate Vicky Colbert of the Escuela Nueva Foundation, this year’s winner of the Kravis Prize in Leadership. Vicky’s work in reforming education for children in Latin America is making a real impact for those let down by traditional education systems. This is incredibly important work and Vicky deserves this great honor. Speaking from my own experience, winning the Kravis Prize will allow Vicky and Escuela Nueva to reach a much larger audience of people interested in education. When I was awarded the Kravis Prize in 2009, I knew that it would help financially as well as help raise the visibility and prominence of my organization, the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL). What I didn’t anticipate was how the reputation of the Kravis Prize would bring AIL increased credibility on the international stage. The Prize has opened doors to many new opportunities and inspired my staff to work even harder than they had in the past. We greatly appreciate the honor and the feeling that people recognize and appreciate the importance of our work educating women and girls in Afghanistan. To achieve our goal of educating women and girls in one of the world’s most oppressive countries, AIL responds to the needs of local communities. In our work, we have to think creatively in order to blend the culture and needs of Afghan women and children with new innovations in teaching, critical thinking skills, human rights, leadership and peace. Vicky and Escuela Nueva have developed incredibly innovative ways to improve the level of education through changing the roles of teachers and students in ways that really...
by lwang | Apr 19, 2011 | CMC, Education, Escuela Nueva, Kravis Prize, Vicky Colbert
During her recent travels to the U.S. to receive the 2011 Kravis Prize in Leadership, Vicky Colbert visited Claremont McKenna College and spoke with students Cody Chang and Nikki Holzberg. In the video below, Colbert talked about the benefits of the Kravis Prize and its positive effect in allowing the Escuela Nueva to create change in the field of education. Colbert stressed the importance of Escuela Nueva’s cooperative learning approach, saying that students who dialogue with one another and learn to work with and accept each other’s ideas, will start to develop citizenship skills that lead to increased participation in their communities and the development of peaceful democracies. Escuela Nueva, said Colbert, is creating a new generation of leaders through democratic classroom elections that are providing a cultural shift in Latin America to promote cooperation and peaceful dialogue. Click on the video below to see Vicky Colbert’s interview. You can also view more videos on Colbert and Escuela Nueva here. ...
by lwang | Apr 8, 2011 | Education, Escuela Nueva, Vicky Colbert
In our first and second blog posts, we had the pleasure of meeting the Escuela Nueva Foundation’s Vicky Colbert, winner of the 2011 Kravis Prize. In this final interview segment, we will explore the methods used by Vicky and Escuela Nueva to provide high quality education in developing countries around the world. Kravis Prize: We’ve discussed the need for high quality education, but specifically how does Escuela Nueva work to achieve this important goal? Vicky Colbert: In my experience, much attention and emphasis in educational reform is given to administrative, budgetary and spending issues, which do not directly affect student achievement. Unfortunately, very little effort is directed toward making changes within the classroom and improving teaching practices. By analyzing the daily interactions that take place in the classroom between teachers and students, among pupils themselves and in the community with students and their families, we can truly affect change. Kravis Prize: So the Escuela Nueva model is entirely focused on the classroom? Vicky Colbert: We have found that both classrooms and schools are important agents for educational change. Initiatives to improve the quality and relevance of education must be done at this level to be truly successful. Further, a shift in the teaching-learning paradigm must occur. More of the same is not enough to change the lives of students. Improving the quality of education requires more than an emphasis on expanding current systems. It necessitates a cultural shift of emphasis away from transmission of information toward comprehension and collective construction of knowledge. For the last two decades, Ernesto Schiefelbein, the former director of UNESCO for the Latin American and...
by lwang | Mar 31, 2011 | Education, Escuela Nueva, Kravis Prize, Vicky Colbert
Could Los Angeles benefit from an educational model developed in Colombia? In an article published in La Opinión, 2011 Kravis Prize recipient Vicky Colbert contends that Escuela Nueva’s successful model of child-centered, participatory learning could be adapted to fit Hispanic populations in other countries, including the United States. While cities like Los Angeles are beset by gang violence, the article pointed out that children in Latin America are confronted with similar issues, such as the dangerous influence of drug trafficking. Escuela Nueva’s educational model, which has thrived in developing nations, might prove successful in developed nations as well. As Colbert explained, “Plant your goals in a new envirnoment, and perhaps it can grow in the...
by lwang | Mar 25, 2011 | CMC, Education, Escuela Nueva, Kravis Prize, Vicky Colbert
Can the educational model espoused by the Escuela Nueva Foundation in Colombia work here in the United States? In his Cutting-Edge Leadership blog on PsychologyToday.com, Dr. Ronald Riggio explains that, not only would this model work here, it was created here and it is still used in the best schools in the country. Riggio, the Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology at Claremont McKenna College, explores the limitations of the “top down” approach of the current U.S. educational system and how our children’s education could be drastically improved by adopting methods spearheaded by 2011 Kravis Prize winner Vicky Colbert and the Escuela Nueva Foundation. Read more: Leading From the Ground Up: How To Transform U.S. Education [PsychologyToday.com]...
